November 15, 2006 - Mayor Haslam and representatives from Knox Heritage and HGTV announced that the George Barber-designed houses located at 1618 and 1620 Washington Avenue will be a part of the HGTV's Restore America initiative. Parkridge neighbors gathered to celebrate this new initiative and helped kick off the restorations.

The
event began with a press conference followed by Mayor Bill Haslam
and Annette Lindstrom, HGTV's vice-president of consumer marketing,
leading the removal of the first piece of plywood from the long
boarded-up houses. Participants were allowed to tour the homes in
order to see the "before" of this amazing make-over. HGTV was on
site to film the event as part of their online and on-air coverage
of the initiative.

"This is a wonderful project that is going to turn back the clock
for these two houses and restore them to the beauty they once had
many years ago," Haslam said. "We want to thank Knox Heritage, which
is making this possible with the help of HGTV's Restore America
program."

In partnership with HGTV's Restore America and the National Trust
for Historic Preservation, Knox Heritage will purchase and completely
restore the two homes in the Parkridge Neighborhood. They stand
vacant and blighted now, but the region and the country will witness
a breathtaking transformation that will return them to their former
beauty while highlighting the work of Knoxville's most famous Victorian-era
architect and encouraging the preservation of this special neighborhood.

Exterior view of the George Barber-designed house located at 1620
Washington Avenue

"We are so excited the entire region will be able to see the restoration
of these two homes," said Kim Trent, executive director of Knox
Heritage. "They are an important part of our community's history
and the future of the Parkridge neighborhood."

Interior view of the George Barber-designed house located
at 1620 Washington Avenue

Local sponsorship support is being provided by the Knoxville News
Sentinel and WBIR's Style. These local media outlets will follow
the restoration of the two houses from the kick off through their
completion next summer. This will allow residents of East Tennessee
to experience the entire process and join Knox Heritage in celebrating
the history of our region.

Since 2003, HGTV's Restore America initiative has provided $4 million
to fund 48 restoration projects around the country. HGTV has donated
$1 million for the 2006-2007 campaign to fund community revitalization
grants. More than 100 grant applications were received from nonprofit
organizations and public agencies across the country to complete
residential projects.

Knox Heritage's "George Barber Houses - A Place for America to Call
Home" project was one of only 12 selected for the program this year.
The projects chosen range from single-family homes adapted from
a row of dilapidated structures built at the turn of the 20th century
in Cleveland, Ohio, to the rebuilding of homes in the Holy Cross
District of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward that collapsed during
Hurricane Katrina. The recipients have been awarded grants ranging
from $50,000 to $100,000 for the community revitalization projects.
You can view all of the projects at www.hgtv.com/restoreamerica.

In addition to providing funds to support the community projects,
HGTV is producing public service announcements for each site that
are featured on HGTV and HGTV.com. This will allow news about these
projects and the message of preservation to reach more than 91 million
U.S. households. The Knox Heritage project will also be featured
on HGTV radio programming and the National Trust for Historic Preservation's
Web site.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit
membership organization dedicated to saving historic places and
revitalizing America's communities. Recipient of the National Humanities
Medal, the Trust was founded in 1949 and provides leadership, education,
advocacy, and resources to protect the irreplaceable places that
tell America's story. Staff at the Washington, D.C., headquarters,
six regional offices and 28 historic sites work with the Trust's
270,000 members and thousands of preservation groups in all 50 states.
For more information, visit the Trust's web site at www.nationaltrust.org.

HGTV, America's leader in home and lifestyle programming, is distributed
to more than 91 million U.S. households and is one of cable's top-rated
networks. HGTV's website, www.HGTV.com is the nation's leading online
home and garden destination that attracts an average of 5.9 million
unique visitors per month. HGTV owns 33 percent of HGTV Canada and
provides much of the Canadian network's daily programming. The network's
branded programming also can be seen in 121 territories across all
seven continents and its selected programming is available to service
men and women on board Navy ships and through American Forces Radio
& Television Service (AFRTS) which services more than 1,000
outlets in over 175 countries. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn.,
with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles,
Nashville and New York, HGTV is wholly owned by The E.W. Scripps
Company (NYSE:SSP), which also operates Food Network, DIY Network,
Fine Living and Great American Country.